Based on the 2008 novel of the same name, written by Garth Stein, a novel that has had lasting success, this was an obvious choice to be made into another, family friendly, Disney K-9 fest.
Directed by Simon Curtis and starring Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried and with Kevin Costner as the voice of the thinking of Enzo, who is a dog.
It’s not that Enzo talks, other than the same way other dogs “talk”, but, instead, Enzo narrates the film from the perspective of Enzo’s thoughts and observations.
The story is based around Enzo’s belief that a dog that has the proper life experiences will be a human after re-birth. Since it is late in his life he tries to gather those and reach his goal of becoming a (human) and a race car driver.
The human drama does take a front seat and they are able to talk, as is usual, but the feelings of the audience are likely moved most by seeing these human events with “dog eyes”.
The story revolves around Enzo’s relationship with his owner (Milo Ventimiglia as Denny Swift) and his Wife (Avery “Eve” Swift played by Amanda Seyfried).
Probably the appropriate question to ask yourself, once you’ve seen the trailer, above, is how much of a dog lover are you? If the answer is that you are a huge fan of dogs and dog movies, you will love this movie, or at the least, be moved by it.
Costner is well cast as the voice of the internal thoughts and musings of Enzo, and the thoughts do seem to match his well known off-beat heroic on screen persona.
No big surprises but plenty of heart strings get pulled
Naturally, while not a movie to sneak up on you with any huge surprises, once you are comfortable with the basic premise of seeing life through the eyes of a very cute and sympathetic dog, nevertheless, the stories many emotional peaks and valleys hit home, as the novel also did with its millions of fans.
As a kind of unrelated sequel to “Marley & Me” also a hit dog story that succeeded in novel as well as Feature film form, there is, apparently, a growing tradition of adorable dog profiles that make it to the big screen.
So: cute, adorable dog imparts wisdom from late in his life, looking back, and presumably forward to his reincarnation as a human.
If you love the trailer you’ll likely enjoy the film.